Boy, is it good to hear Pigpen on organ during NFA! He'd been quiet for too many months!

There are definitely some delights here - the electric stuff is a bit rough with all the level adjustments, etc., but the acoustic stuff (pending some level adjustments as well) is as stark and mysterious as anything this side of 2/13. Check out Pigpen playing the organ during Black Peter.

By no means could this ever be 5-star stuff - there are far too many problems with this board, but any 1970 boards are little treasures.

A Nice Excursion Into A Little Documented Time Slot. The Texas Tour Between The Epic Fillmore East Show And The Back To The Nest Family Dog Shows At The Mouth Of March.A Totally Different Sound & Vibe From Either Of Those Venues.Some Proto Cowboy Dead.The Request By Jerry To The Sound Crew Ere Fade Away Is Priceless."Wer're Gonna Call The Union On Ya If You Don't Hurry Up"-"Union,What Union?"-"The Rock ''n'Roll Union That's What,The Galactic Rock 'n' Roll Union." Grate Name For A Galactic Album.Even With Slices & Hum A 4.... For Ever Grateful

My HIGHLIGHT-Me & My Uncle with Weir front and center.
The strength of the Grateful Dead recordings in their entirety is the variety of musical spaces this band partook in over the years.
Black Peter pretty nice especially featuring PIG on the organ.
Acoustic UNCLE JOHN'S!!!
No year mellower than 1970 for these very laid back sets.

Throughout 1970 after TC left after 1/31 Pigpen does indeed play organ on most, almost all songs but is consistently low, barely audible in the mix.

In this show Garcia calls out for Phil and Pigpen to join in on Black Peter. Most of the acoustic songs in early 70 were just Bob and Jerry. The Me & my uncle is Bob solo.
Garcia tells Pigpen to not 'overwhelm' them before 'Peter.' Pigpen ends up being a little louder than you normally hear him at this point in 1970. 'Poor Peter' is a good song for him too adding a dirgelike sound to a song about impending demise.

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I love this acoustic stuff. There is quite a hum in it, though, mostly noticeable between songs. Still, it's wonderful, hum and all. Thanks for the great upload. Enjoy.

This recording cuts in on the initial electric set. I Know You Rider is clearly underway and no doubt China Cat preceded it. Probably other songs missing from earlier too. This appears to be the middle of a show. The beginning and end are missing. They would come out electric, switch to acoustic for a handful of songs, and close electric in this period. There's probably 15-20 minutes missing from before Rider and 45-60 missing from after Masons.

Jerry is playing the sunburst Strat. He set aside the SG in the fall of '69 and through the winter played that Strat. The Fillmore East shows of 2/13-14/70 were performed with that guitar and this is easily, clearly that instrument. He switched back to the SG by may and used it through the summer and fall of 1970.

I don’t mean to say anything negative about my boy Bobbie, but that “yellow dog” joke was pretty lame, HA! My favorite part is Jerry, after the pause after the punch line (cause the joke was pretty lame, lol) Jerry Says "Don’t encourage Him!" joking. I love the ol' acoustic sets, this is a good recording also, good job "Raul Duke" (Hunter S. Thompson reference). I also agree with another review, seems like there is some material missing from this show, considering the length. This is a great show to have just to listen to and get a laugh or to have an easy tune to listen to on the way home from a long weekend. We miss you Jerry. Peace and Love from VA Beach.

Great High Time, and a nice, if short, acoustic set, with Bobby doing a solo Me and My Uncle while Jerry changes a broken string. But the NFA is what blew me away on this one. I wasn't expecting what I got! Sure, it doesn't have all the cool twists with the chinacat/st stephen/darkness jams like many of the powerhouse NFA's of the year, but it just DON'T LET UP! Phil drives the train in this slightly unevenly mixed recording, with loud vocals and a bit of a mono sound similar to say 5/2 or 5/6, and Jerry and Pig just go at it, even trading licks near the end jam. Bobby gives his all on an interesting vocal reprise, they proceed back into the jam, then you hear the Good Lovin tease, they quiet down and head into Mason's, which unfortunately cuts out in the first verse and back in at the final chorus, yet still pulls out a decent ending jam. One of the real surprise recordings I've really enjoyed while collecting all of 1970.

So this is obviously the same guitar that Garcia plays at Kresge Plaza on 5-4-70 and elsewhere. The question is: is this the SG or the Sunburst strat? I'm guessing the SG.

It ain't the Les Paul he was playing in 68-69, that's for sure. The tone is much gnarlier, which makes it more suitable, perhaps, for the countrified rock sound the band pursued intermittently (and by that mean intermittently within the space of a single song! ;)

http://www.dozin.com/jers/guitar/history.htm

In terms of show quality, it ain't too bad but there are far more flaming performances out there from 1970 that plunder this song selection, e.g., the 5-4-70 show referred to above (a board recording) and the killer 3-7-70 show (compare the NFA from that show to this one -- not a small difference!!!).

Enjoyed listening to Little Sadie and Seasons of my Heart. Sound quality on these two songs wasn't bad at all.

Have a listen.
Thanks archive!

FLAME ON! Fragment of a larger show, or a part of a mutli-act night? Who friggin' cares? 26 years later we get to hear the boys in their prime, including Little Sadie AND Seasons. Of course, I've now spent enough time around the archive to understand that I should take off 1/2 a star for the slightly muddy recording, 1/2 a star for every time Bobby's mike distorts, and a full star for my own confusion over what this is and how it's assembled. But lucky for me nobody explained the obviously stringent ratings system. Just where in the world do all you wacky people come from??? FLAME OFF!

When I first streamed this my first thoughts were 'what a wierd show this is'. I am convinced this is only a portion of this show since it is only a bit over an hour. I sure would like to know what the rest of the set list was. The show consists of mostly acoustic Dead sandwiched between some electric songs. The whole thing doesnt seem like it goes together to me. Actually at times it seems very intimate though like they could be playing in your living room which saves the show for me. Just overall kinda wierd...or is it just me? Give it a listen.